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Softball

Softball All-Ivy -- 2012

May 17, 2012

PRINCETON, N.J. -- For the second consecutive
season, Harvard senior Rachel Brown (San Diego)
earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Year honors by a unanimous vote of
the League’s head coaches. Brown also capped off a four-year
run with her fourth consecutive first-team All-Ivy honor and will
now lead the Crimson into NCAA Regional play at Washington. Her
teammate Jane Alexander (Palo Alto, Calif.) and
Brown’s Stephanie Thompson (Chino, Calif.)
were voted the co-Players of the Year, while Penn pitcher
Alexis Borden (Yorba Linda, Calif.) claimed Rookie
of the Year honors.

Pitcher of the
Year
Brown is just the fourth player to be named the League’s
Pitcher of the Year twice in the history of the award, which dates
back to 1994, and the first to do so while donning a Harvard
uniform. Since All-Ivy selections began in 1981, Brown is just the
13th player in League history to be a four-time first-team All-Ivy
selection and the first since Penn’s Annie
Kinsey earned her fourth honor in 2008. She is the second
Harvard player to earn four career All-Ivy first team honors,
joining Tiffany Whitton (2000-03).

Brown dazzled in the circle this season, posting a 19-5 overall
record to go along with a 1.34 ERA and 232 strikeouts in 172
innings of work. In the Ivy League Championship Series, Brown led
the Crimson with a complete game shutout of Penn, 1-0, in game one
and came back to earn the series clinching save in game two. She
tossed 21 complete games and walked just 42 batters. Her 9.4
strikeouts per seven inning ranks seventh-best in the nation, while
her 3.74 hits allowed per seven innings is the second-best mark in
the country. Brown earned Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors
five times this season and has 12 such honors in her career,
including three as a junior and two as a freshman and
sophomore.

Co-Player of the
Year
Alexander paced a Crimson offense that led the League in batting
average and hits en route to claiming the program’s second
consecutive Ivy League title. In all games played, Alexander led
the Ivy League with 60 hits on the year and also tied for the top
mark in total bases (90), while placing second in runs scored (32),
tied for first in doubles (13) and first in triples (4). She batted
.408 during the regular season and added 23 RBI, three home runs
and a .612 slugging percentage. In Ivy play, Alexander led the
League in runs scored (20), triples (3) and stolen bases (6).

Dating back to 1985, Brown and Alexander become just the third
pair to share Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Ties also
occurred in 1993 with Shelby Marshall of Brown and
Karen Drill of Princeton and in 2008 with
Christina Khosravi of Penn and Jamie
Lettire of Princeton. Alexander is Harvard’s second
consecutive Ivy League Player of the Year as Ellen
Macadam took home the honor in 2011 and the
Crimson’s sixth winner overall.

Co-Player of the Year
Fourth in the nation in batting average, Thompson ended the year
with a .477 average, which currently ranks second in Division I,
and she led the Bears in hits (51), runs (27), home runs (9), RBI
(27) and total bases (90). As Brown's starting shortstop, she
posted a .920 fielding percentage and also posted a .571 on-base
percentage, which ranks sixth in the nation. Thompson’s .477
batting average led the League, as did her slugging percentage
(.841), her on-base percentage (.571) and walks (25).

In just three years, Thompson ranks second in the Brown record
book for career home runs (24), second in career batting average
(.438), fourth in runs scored (91), third in hits (156), second in
doubles (37), and fourth in RBI (82). She is Brown’s fourth
Ivy League Player of the Year and first since Katie
King won the award in 1996. Thompson was also voted as the
first-team All-Ivy shortstop.

Rookie of the
Year
Borden had a stellar first year for the Quakers as she posted a
24-6 record to lead Penn to its first Ivy League Championship
Series since 2007. Borden finished the year with a 1.46 earned run
average and 193 strikeouts. She led the League in wins (24),
innings pitched (196.2), games started (27) and appearances (34).
In Ivy games, Borden had a 1.65 ERA and recorded 12 wins.

Dating back to 1985, Borden is Penn’s third Ivy League
Rookie of the Year, joining Dawn Kulp (1992) and
Jess Lupardus (2008). Borden was also a unanimous
first-team All-Ivy selection.

First-Team
All-Ivy
Sophomore Kasey Lange (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) and
junior Ashley Heritage (College Station, Texas)
join Brown and Alexander as Crimson players to be named to the
All-Ivy first team. Slotting in at third base, Lange earned her
second consecutive unanimous selection to the first team. The 2011
Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Lange batted .378 in regular-season
action, while leading the League in RBI with 39. She also had six
home runs and totaled 54 hits, tied for the second most in the
League. Heritage, who earned second team honors a season ago,
batted .295 and led the Crimson with 10 stolen bases. She also
scored 21 runs and added four doubles.

Combining with Heritage to comprise the first team outfield is
Cornell sophomore Lauren Bucolo (Palo Alto,
Calif.) and Penn junior Brooke Coloma (Martinez,
Calif.). Bucolo also batted .295 for the year, with six home runs,
22 RBI and 24 runs scored. In Ivy play, her 27 hits and 49 total
bases led the League. It marks Bucolo’s first career All-Ivy
honor. Coloma, who earned Honorable Mention All-Ivy status as a
sophomore, was second in the League with 34 RBI and also ranked
tied for fourth with 19 walks. She batted .275 on the year and in
Ivy games she led the League in RBI (20) while finishing tied for
second in runs scored (18).

Heading back to the infield, Cornell junior Kristen
Towne (Brecksville, Ohio) got the nod from the coaches as
the first team catcher. Town, who had 184 putouts on the year, a
.976 fielding percentage and also caught six stealing, was a
catalyst for the Big Red offense with a .304 batting average, 42
hits, 21 RBI, 25 runs scored and four home runs. Towne was an
honorable mention selection as a sophomore.

At first base, Brown senior Kate Strobel
(Denver) earned her second consecutive All-Ivy first team honor.
The senior, who was an honorable mention selection as a utility
player her freshman season, led the Bears with 27 RBI and nine home
runs this year, while coming in second in hits (42), doubles (9)
and walks (17). She boasted a .975 fielding percent and a .496 on
base percentage. She concluded her career as Brown’s all-time
leader in home runs (33) and ranks second in hits (159).

Yale junior Jennifer Ong (Pleasanton, Calif.)
earned her first career All-Ivy honor as the second baseman on the
2012 All-Ivy first team. She started each of the Bulldogs’ 46
games this season and led the squad in batting average (.351), hits
(54) and on-base percentage (.409). Her batting average ranked
fifth in the League, while her 54 hits were tied with Lange for the
second most. She is the first Bulldog to be named to an All-Ivy
first team since 2009 (Lauren Huddleston).

Penn sophomore Elysse Gorney (So., Orlando,
Fla.) and Columbia sophomore Tristin Moone
(Waterflow, N.M.) round out the All-Ivy first team at utility
player and designated player, respectively. Gorney, who earned
honorable mention status as a freshman, batted .309, had 47 hits,
eight doubles, 17 RBI and scored 29 runs – the fourth most in
the League. Moone hit .295, added four home runs and 15 RBI. She
also had three doubles on the year.